journey into your practice

THE NEXT LEVEL SERIES

Are you ready to transform your practice?

One of the greatest ways to create shifts in your practice of yoga is to create a regular and consistent practice. We believe a daily practice (or sadhana) helps you to check in with yourself and your connection to the world around you. It helps you get to know yourself, gain perspective where you need it most, and find a center of calm in whatever life tosses your way.

Our Next Level Series will introduce you to yoga’s deep well of tools so that they are accessible for use in your everyday life. One 4-week workshop at a time, we will teach you how to build a custom practice for yourself that keeps you exploring yoga beyond the mat. We’ll help you evaluate in what ways your practice is or isn’t serving you, so that you will be comfortable letting your sadhana continue to evolve with your exploration of yoga.

THE WORKSHOPS

CORE WORK

Your Physical Core & the Core of Your Practice

We focus on the anatomy of the spine + trunk, common + challenging “core” poses, and foundational tools for taking your practice into daily life with sutra exploration, journal work, breath practices, meditation, and guided home study.

HAPPY HIPS

Ground Your Practice in the Lower Body

We focus on the anatomy of the hips, knees, and ankles, common + challenging lower body focused shapes, and foundational tools for taking your practice into daily life with sutra exploration, journal work, breath practices, meditation, and guided home study.

LEARNING TO FLY

Find Foundation in Your Upper Body

We focus on the anatomy of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, common + challenging upper body focused shapes (including arm balances), and
foundational tools for taking your practice into daily life with sutra exploration, journal work, breath practices, meditation, and guided home study.

THE FLOW

Subtle Body Practices

We dive into Ayurveda for daily wellbeing, restorative yoga for deep rest, and a full roster of meditation and pranayama practices.

PURPOSE & INTENT

Use Your Knowledge for Self and Others

We’ll teach you 216 sequencing that you can use for your own practice or to share with friends + family. We introduce teaching tools that will help you share the practice of yoga if you choose to do so –and it will absolutely boost your own practice, too!

PRACTICUM & BEYOND

Putting It All Together for the Next Step

Bring all your knowledge together in a final practicum: teaching a class to your peers! This is an exhilarating and educational experience for everyone, regardless of teaching aspirations. And if you’ve uncovered a love of teaching yoga, it will set you up with the necessary tools to take your next step –into our Teaching Yoga program or wherever this journey takes you!

Workshops can be taken in any order, with the exception of Purpose + Intent and Practicum as these are designed to make use of what you learn in the other four workshops!

If you complete all 6 workshops, you will be eligible for Yoga 216 Level 1 Teacher certification (requires homework and test completion). Already know teaching is the path you’re exploring? Check out our Level 1 Teacher Training program, designed to take a single group through this powerful journey.

Benefits of 6

Yoga was traditionally taught one on one, from guru (teacher) to shishya (student). This was (and still is) effective, because each student has a unique practice (physical and otherwise), one that evolves at its own pace, and needs its own particular guidance and direction. Our Next Level Series workshops, like our classes, are limited to 6 students by design so that we can attend to each student with equally personalized care. This small group setting also lets us tailor the overall emphasis of the program for each student.

Workshop Format

We designed the Next Level Series to help you deepen your practice –on a schedule that fits your life and matches your current interests. Four of the six program workshops can be taken independently of any other, but still build on each other. If you complete the entire series, you’ll be introduced to some teaching elements in the final two workshops. These are educational for anyone regardless of teaching aspirations, but may also uncover a new passion! In those cases, we’re happy to say you’ll be eligible for our Teaching Yoga: Level 2 Teacher Training program!

If you already know you want to give teaching a try, we recommend you sign up for our Level 1 Teacher Training course, which takes a single group of trainees through the program in one go (over six months).

Your Next Level Teachers

Together Yoga 216 owner Nicole Katz and Senior Teacher Esther Palmer have created multiple successful yoga teacher training programs, bringing decades of practice and teaching experience into semi-private yoga education. Nicole specializes in yoga therapy and kinesiology. She excels at making the esoteric and anatomically challenging nuances of yoga practice accessible to beginners and students who think “yoga isn’t for them.” Esther specializes in meditation and restorative practices, and has a unique ability to create space for all kinds of learning styles.

All teachers in the Next Level Series and Teacher Training programs teach at Yoga 216 and have studied and mentored with Nicole and Esther.

Sample Lesson

Experience for yourself what it’s like! Try out our Yoga Lab for an asana class that takes you deeper into the hows and whys of the practice. Nicole will introduce you to the pose “infrastructure” in our Monday night “Intro to the Week” class. Join Esther for meditation and restorative classes to get a taste of the subtle side of the practice too! These classes offer the perfect opportunity to check out our teaching philosophy and ask us all your follow up questions in person. Normal class pricing applies. Click here to sign up!

Not in New York City? Get in touch using our form below and we’ll be happy to send you detailed info or set up a phone call.

Who should register?

Any student of yoga is welcome to join the workshops in our Next Level Series! Each workshop will deepen the student’s personal practice, while the series as a whole also sets a foundation for teaching yoga. Students wishing to continue on to our Teaching Yoga mentorship program must successfully complete the full Next Level Series, Level 1 Teacher Training, or Functional Anatomy for Yoga Teachers.

Certification

Yes! This series can lead to teaching! Upon successful completion of the entire Next Level Series (including assignments + tests), you will be eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as an RYT 200, and continue on to the Yoga 216 Teaching Yoga 300-hour mentorship program. Upon successful completion of the 300-hour program, you will receive the certification of Yoga 216 Teacher and eligibility for YA RYT 500.

Instructors

Next Level workshops and teacher training programs are led by co-creators Nicole Katz and Esther Palmer, a dynamic and richly skilled team to lead you on this journey. They are joined by 216 Senior Teachers who’ve chosen to focus on this particular direction of teaching and gone through a thorough apprenticeship. Stellar guest teachers will introduce you to special topics including Ayurveda, Sanskrit, and Yoga History. As with all 216 classes, our Next Level workshops are limited to 6 students.